Chan - Central Council room - Mt. Medius

Chan tried to take bigger steps as the men ahead of him, namely his father and older brother made their way to the Central Council room. There was a sudden urgent call that came from elder Kwon, seeing the old man bolted out of their mansion two hours after arriving and didn't came back, Chan knew even in his young age that something must be up and although he was still kind of perplexed from the strange dream he had, he still bolted up from his bed and followed the two older men. 

Not even waiting for the guards designated in guarding the council room to open the door, his father opened the large and heavy wooden doors of the room by himself. Letting himself in, he gestured at Chan and Soonyoung to come inside. 

Inside the room Chan was greeted by familiar faces. He felt at ease to see Junhui and Minghao and was even more delighted to meet again the youngest of the Choi brothers. The people inside the room bowed their heads to greet them and they bowed theirs back to show respect.

Looking around, Chan tried to take in the things he saw in the room. The things inside were mostly made of wood, from the furniture to the floor and walls. There were a number of quills and ink bottles together with a stack of parchment in every edge of each table. "Probably there for note taking during assemblies" Chan thought. There was also an elevated space in the farther most right with elegant looking chairs lined up with one another.

The chairs and tables that were on the sawed-off part of the room were aligned in a curved manner, causing the younger middle grounder to make a conclusion that the large space in the middle is left just in case one needs to stand in the middle to present something or just want to get their point across. Far back was a decent sized fireplace enough to make the room warm during assemblies in the middle of the cold winters.

Chan followed his brother and made their way to the forth table near the middle where he can already see his father grabbing a chair to sit on. As the youngest Kwon situated himself comfortably, he took another glance around the vicinity. Some of the houses are still not present considering that they came an hour and a half early.

Looking around, the young middle grounder glanced at the Choi's. They were seated in the ninth table in the left. Chan threw another glance at Hansol which the older gladly returned with a small smile. Then he proceed to mouth out "do you know what's happening?" to the younger which the other replied with a curt shake of his head. The nether then replied back by mouthing out "me either" to the middle grounder and proceeded to poke his older brother who was sitting right beside him as well.

Since Hansol is bothering his brother, Chan also decided to divert his attention to other people in the room. There, his eyes landed on his Jun and Minghao hyung.

Both were huddled together near the farthest large window to the right. From Chan's point of view, it looked like Jun was comforting a somehow bothered Minghao. They were not talking, they weren't even exchanging glances with each other but Chan knew that the two had a deeper connection that no one would understand.

A few moments passed and the double wooden doors burts open again and came in the three main houses of the cloud denizens all bright and sparkly according to Chan's opinion. 

Everybody greeted them as they entered the room the same way as they greeted the Kwon's earlier. The cloud denizens made their way to the tables in the right with the Yoon's being the farthest facing the Choi's, followed by the Hong's and lastly by the Lee's.

The young middle grounders eyes followed them as they walked to their seats. Their blond and silver locks bouncing as they walk with elegance and Chan couldn't help but wonder how they keep up with the fact that they always need to walk with poise and refinement. One example is Jisoo. He is a perfrect picture of a gentle and graceful man that even in the middle of slashing a demon beasts throat the gracefulness still sticks to him. Also Seungkwan, a classy man with a kind heart. When Chan first met him, he thought he looked like the legendary angels of love, the cherubs of god. But then the image of him took a slight change as the droplets of blood covered him little by little. He still looked like an angel from the youngers point of view, but instead of bringing love he looked more like the angel of death. He was still full of elegance though.

Then from his peripheral, Chan saw the present heads gathered around in one corner. They all greeted each other with warm smiles and tight hugs. It was kind of unfamiliar to the young middle grounder for he has never seen his father interact with the other family heads in such a brotherly manner other than the Wen and Xu.

With the young one not hearing anything from the olders converstion, he decided to take a look around again. He watched as Seungkwan gracefully made his was to Hansol whilst carrying a small weaved basket. The two then started to talk animatedly as Hansol started to look at the baskets content.

"But hyung can't Seungkwan and I really cannot join the raid with you?”. Chan then heard Seokmin whine at his older brother who was sitting together with the eldest sons of the Yoon and Hong. He was quickly dismissed by his older brother with a curt "no" which caused him to pout in an instant.

"And besides we won't be actively joining the raid Seokminnie, we're only there for additional support." Yoon Jeonghan replied as he tied his silver hair with a very rare elastic onyx silk band.

"Here, how about you just study for your next governace trial and I'll make you some laxus tonic to help you relax when we come back." Chan heard Jisoo offered. The other male immediately nodded his head in agreement and sat back on his chair like a contented child.

"Wow already brewing a laxus tonic I see, Seok is a lucky man." Jeonghan remarked as he and the older Lee snickered at Jisoo.

"Oh Jeonghan you know very well that laxus tonics are brewed for everybody and not just for you're other half. How about you explain to me why are you wearing a proposal band and who gave it?” For some reason, High Lord Choi fell out of his own seat on the other side of the table causing for Hansol to pause his chat with Seungkwan and pat his older brothers back.

Going back to the astrals side of the table, the middle grounder saw how High Lord Lee snickered whilst High Lord Hong commented "I see" repeatedly as he nodded in agreement.

Before the silver haired astral can refute, Chan jolted as the wooden door once again suddenly opened revealing the rest of the main nether houses, Jeon and Kim. They were greeted the same as the others as they enter the room. They made their way to where the Choi's are seated and just like the rest, the Lord Masters of both houses made their way immediately to the other Lord Masters leaving their sons on their seats.

A few moments pass by again and the horns that signals the arrival of the elders were heard from the outside. The Lord Masters all made their way to their seats and waited as the elders entered the room one by one.

"Thank you for responding to our calls immediately, we are of knowledge that this is way earlier than the promised time that the assembly should happen, however there had been an important matter that we believe must be discussed as soon as possible." Elder Jeon spoke as soon as everybody were seated.

"We also know that most of you, especially the young ones are wondering why we called you all in such a rush when you were the ones who summond us. Aren't we right?" This time it was Elder Lee who spoke all the while glancing around the room. Chan nodded unconsciously at that, feeling at edge now that the realization that something severe must have really happend for them to be called.

"Well, we summoned you all here because something earlier in the day happened that might help humanity to overcome once again the threat that just risen and we will all need your help, including the young ones." elder Lee finished. Chan then heard quiet murmurs around the room but they were not loud enough to be understood.

"As we have all seen and feared Lilith appeared once again. Although not fully free from her chains, that demon is cleary about to break free with the help of her demonic votary, especially if given more time." It was elder Xu who spoke this time around as he slowly made his way to the open space in the middle of the room.

"This past weeks most of us spent countless of hours discussing about how we could stop her and frankly, I would say none of it can assure our safety." The older man continued as he looked at each and every man on the room. 

"Most of us forgot to ask help from God in concentration of looking for a way to stop Lilith. It was foolish and disrespectful of us all to do something like that. But our ever loving and forgiving God never stopped looking after us. It is a shame that even after neglecting him, he still sent one his trusted messengers and bless us with his grace." As the old man spoke, Chan couldn't stop himself from feeling guilty. It indeed did not cross his mind to ask help from their god, how disrespectful of him he thought.

"I deeply apologize for interrupting you elder Xu, but what do you mean?" The young middle grounder jolted a little on his seat when his father's voice boomed all through out the room in question of the elders statement.

"Earlier this morning, the cursed son, one of God's most trusted messenger went down and visited us from the heavens. With him he brought down a message and a gift. The message is for everybody yet as for the gift, it was only for the chosen heroes of God." Numerous murmurs were once again heard bouncing on the walls of the room before Lord Master Kim asked to clarify if they have all heard it correctly.

"The chosen heroes?"

"Yes, the chosen heroes. There will be a new league of chosen heroes that will finally defeat Lilith just like a thousand years ago." The elder answered in a very convinced tone.

"But how can you be so sure elder? I mean I apologize if I sound very doubtful but how can you all be so sure about that?” Lord Master Kim probed futher.

"Lord Master Kim, here in this room is one of the chosen heroes of God. It was also through him where the cursed son delivered the message." The elder calmly answer whilst his gaze slowly traveling to a certain direction.

"Xu Minghao my dear child, would you please stand up and tell them what the young boyin your dreams told you?” and so Chan listened to everything that his Minghao hyung was saying. He didn't understand what the message meant though, so he still had no idea how the elders concluded that his Minghao hyung was one of the chosen. 

"And then I found this. I remembered only wearing a bracelet and our emblem but never this necklace. There was even no hook in the chains of the necklace for me to even wear it on and off. It just magically appeared after that strange dream." Chan watched as the older middle grounder fumbled with the collar of his shirt and pulled out a golden chain with single pendant that looked like a tiny feather.

"Before any of you decides that this might just be a coincidence, do not worry for we have already looked upon it." Elder Yoon added after Minghao showed the pendant.

Chan was speechless, he was trembling a little on his seat as the realization hit him. The stunned middle grounder blindly traced his neck down to his chest as he started to feel an unfamiliar weight. Then he felt it, there on his neck, the metal chains hidden behind the layers of his shirt. He didn't know what to feel to be honest. He knows he should be proud of himself that god chose him to be one of the vessels that will bring goodness to humanity, but he also felt scared. He doesn't have much knowledge in fighting, he might just end up as an extra baggage to the other the chosen ones.

Facts about the Fic:

• Mt. Medius - is a mountain found between the 3 realms. This mountain has been the meeting ground of the nobles and was even said to be the first meeting place of the first heroes when Lilith started her bloody rampage. The once secluded musty dark cave was beautified by previous nobles that held their assemblies their for years.
• Laxus Tonic - is a well known medicinal drink that originated from the astral realm. It is mostly brewed by a lover who is waiting home for their other half who has spent all day tirelessly working for their family, thus the reason why giving someone a Laxus tonic after a tiring day means you are either married or betrothed to that person.
• Onyx silk band - is a very rare kind of silk weaved from precious onyx stones found deep in the mines of the nether realm. Only the richest nobles, mostly from the main noble houses can afford this special cloth. Since it is very rare, the silk is only used in very special occasions most commonly during weddings and is gifted by the ones proposing for the betrothal. Thus it is called a proposal band.

Hi! Good day or good evening! This is quite longer than my usual updates but I hope y'all like it. This chapter and probably another one will mark the end of the first arc of this fic. Yes you've read it right! After 10+ chapters, this is only the beginning! I hope you're in for more!! Anyways I've included some tiny bits of the ships in this chapter.. I hope you all enjoy.. Byeeeee